My Dads Are Cooler! Longer and Fewer Chapters
by Catastrophe Cory
Summary: Taisho's just an average girl who loves photography, I mean who doesn't have an exmusician and romance novelist for parents? Shu and Eiri have settled down, but what adventures lie in wait for their daughter?
1. Chapter 1:Not Very Rarely Every Day

**My Dads Are Cooler!**

Summary-thing: Taisho is your typical seventeen-year-old. She's got suitable grades, plays guitar, and has a love of photography. And who doesn't have a rock star-gone-model and a romance novelist for dads? First Gravi fic, so please don't hate me if it sucks.

Translation-thing: Otosan: Father/ Nani: What/ -chan: an honorific that shows a cute endearment/ -rin: an honorific also used for cute endearment, commonly used by high school girls/ J-Rock: short for Japanese Rock/ -kun: a term of endearment used mainly with boys, but girls can be called this too./ Urusei: Shut up/ -san: a term to show respect, sort of the equivalent of Mr., Ms., Mrs., etc.

Chapter One: Not Very Rarely Every Day 

"Otosan!" half shouted a young girl with long blond hair and amethyst eyes. She seemed to be frantically searching for something, still in her pajamas.

Two men peeked their heads out, one from the kitchen and the other from a study. "Nani, Taisho-chan?"

Taisho sighed in exasperation; you would think that after twelve years of this whenever she called them that she would have learned by now to actually walk to the one she wanted to talk to. "Pink Otosan, not the scary novelist Otosan."

"Okay!" said the higher pitched voice out of the two men. The response was followed by the sound of feet against hardwood flooring. Shuichi Shindo was a man of thirty-two but didn't look a day over twenty, partly because of his height. He moved some of his short pink (freakishly pink) hair out of his innocent purple eyes. He reached Taisho's room and peered inside. "What was it you wanted?"

"Have you seen my J-rock Goddess shirt? You know, the black one with the sparkly letters and long purple sleeves that I got in America this summer?" she asked only taking a small break from her search to actually look at her father and to grab her hair ribbons from her bedside table. "I'm supposed to meet up with Ryu-chan and Noriko-rin in Shibuya in an hour or so, but first I have to stop by Hiroki's." She finished as she put up her hair quickly.

"I was wondering why you were up so early on a Sunday; you usually sleep in until two in the afternoon. Why Hiroki's?" Shuichi asked.

"He said that he and his parents needed help moving in a piece of the new furniture, so I volunteered." Taisho made a depressed sigh. "I was having a nice dream about muffins too. Bastard called me at seven o'clock!" She explained, scoffing and flipping her ponytails behind her. Taisho could feel the prideful smile Shuichi wore behind her. It was almost suffocating. "That'll only take a few minutes there and then I can probably get to Shibuya just in time to meet up with Ryu-chan." She turned around again. "So have you seen the shirt?"

"Yeah, it's in the laundry basket. It was just cleaned." Shuichi stuck his thumb in the direction of the living room.

"Sweet, thanks!" she said excitedly as she gave him a hug and ran to the living room for her favorite shirt. Feeling no shame and apparently having a sports bra on under pajama top, she took her top off and slipped the new one on. She went back to her room and pulled a pair of shorts off of her bed. They were baggy on her and olive colored.

"Where'd you get those?" Shuichi wondered. They looked familiar, but Shuichi couldn't remember where he had seen them before.

"Oh, according to other Otosan, these used to be yours. He said that you used to wear these all the time when you were my age." Shuichi smacked himself in the head for being so stupid; he used to love those shorts. Taisho did a little spin and did a "ta-da!" for him. "They just looked so awesome and I couldn't resist! I hope you don't mind." She asked him.

"Of course not, you just proved something for me." Shuichi said happily. Taisho looked confused so he decided to explain. "Now you can show people that I'm not the thinnest person in the world without being clinically ill."

Taisho sighed at the pathetic attempt at a joke. "Regardless to what you may have heard, I am a girl, it's okay if I'm thinner than you." She gave her immature father a pat on the shoulder and headed towards the kitchen. Only to be stopped by a deep voice from the other room.

"Wait a second," it said calmly. Even though this happened dozens upon dozens upon DOZENS of times before, Taisho was still creeped out whenever her other father did that. She stepped into the room that the voice had come from (the study) and closed the door behind her. At least a window was open so there was sunlight this time; usually she was left in pitch dark for what seemed like hours. She looked across the room and saw her father Eiri Yuki sitting in a chair by the desk.

Eiri Yuki was a handsome man of thirty-six with short golden hair and matching, almost demonic, golden eyes. He had a cool composure, which would make you feel like you were facing Satan himself at times. Other times you could feel like you were looking at the sexiest man in the world. That reason was why she rarely brought her friends over, male or female, they'd either swoon or start crying. He had a smirk on his lips and took the cigarette out of his mouth and put it out in the ashtray.

"What'd you want to talk about?" Taisho asked him.

"Oh just one of the most cliché topics of the era," he said cryptically.

Taisho wore the same smirk Eiri did and leaned against the wall. "Let me guess, 'The Talk', right?"

"Sadly, yes." He said as if he really didn't want to talk about it... which he didn't. "Let's see, I'll make this short. Drugs: don't do. Alcohol: Not a lot, well not yet anyway. Sex: Go ahead, use protection though. Date rape: You're smart enough to figure this out."

Taisho put her finger to her chin and tried to guess what she should do. "Tell you and Uncle Tohma so you can beat the rapist to near death, immediately shove them in front of a speeding truck and leave him in a ditch half-naked?"

"That's an even better answer than the one I had in mind." Eiri confessed. "Thanks for the idea."

"My pleasure." Taisho said nicely. Yuki nodded and went back to typing his new novel. Taisho walked over and leaned over his shoulder. "So what's this one about?" she asked.

"I'm trying something new," he began, "I'm basing the main character off of Shuichi, if that can help you."

"That's so awesome!" Taisho exclaimed as she hugged Eiri around the shoulders. "Did you tell him?"

"No."

"Why the hell not?" Taisho asked.

"Why do you question my methods?" Eiri asked back.

Taisho stayed silent. She knew that this could go on for hours; they did this once before when she was twelve, but she had places to go and didn't have the time to test her debating abilities with her father. "Shit." She swore as she looked at her watch. "Listen, I've gotta go, I'll be back in time for dinner though, alright?"

"Sure." Eiri answered. Taisho walked out of the room and her father went back to typing.

"_You write like you're at a third grade reading level." The mysterious man said as he dropped the lyrics to the ground. Strangely enough, the wind blew it straight to the feet of the broken lyricist two yards away. "You've got zero talent." He said coldly. "Try going into a reliable career." Without another word being said, the strange man flipped his untamed blond hair out of his face and walked away. _

Eiri stopped and leaned back in his chair. "It's weird writing about myself like this. I feel like some sort of villain."

Taisho quickly got into the kitchen, grabbed a piece of toast off of Shuichi's plate and said goodbye before she went out the door. Even though she had closed the door, both Shuichi and Eiri could hear her trip on the dip in the floor. At that point, Eiri decided it was safe to come out of hiding and stood next to Shuichi, who was by the door.

"You would have thought she had learned to step down by now." Eiri said, making Shuichi jump with a squeak. Shuichi saw that it was Eiri and exhaled deeply; Shuichi sort of liked it when Eiri snuck up on him, though. It reminded him that Eiri would always be there (in a masochistic, heart-attack inducing kind of way). "It's almost disturbing how similar you two are. Are you sure she isn't some distant relative of yours?" Eiri looked Shuichi straight in the eyes, those big, beautiful, amethyst eyes that he could stare into for hours at times.

Shuichi gave a small smile, a way to show he would respond without saying a word. "You should ask yourself the same question." He said mischievously. "You're both blond, tall, and gorgeous. I'm just--"

"The stupid monkey who has sex with me every night." Eiri finished in his casually cynical and cold voice. Shuichi shut up, he knew that Eiri was going to say something to make it seem like that last comment didn't exist. "Even so, the two of you are just so cheerful and outgoing," Eiri said with a calm voice as he stepped closer to Shuichi and taking hold of his hand, "and she has the same eyes as you do. Those eyes have the same effect on her friends as yours do on me. They make me want to be around you no matter what." Shuichi responded to this touch and got closer to Yuki, their bodies touching and Shuichi's arms draped around Eiri's neck. Eiri's hands were loosely placed at Shuichi's hips now.

"She's smart." Shuichi debated against him.

"Beautiful." Eiri added, his head lowering

"Almost as much as you." Shuichi went on his tiptoes.

There was silence for a few seconds between the two, both holding each other. Eiri ignored the pain in his neck and Shuichi did the same with his feet. They felt stronger just being that close. Their faces got closer together, their lips were only centimeters apart now.

"How many times have we argued about this?" Eiri said in a whisper that sent shivers up Shuichi's spine.

"I'm at seventy-four." Shuichi responded in a whisper of his own that made Eiri want him even more, completely ignoring the comment and only focusing on how he had said it.

Then their lips touched and it seemed like all forms of chaos ensued in each other's mouths. Shuichi gave a small moan in response and that was the signal for Eiri to go deeper in. He did, and it was glorious. They broke apart for air and Eiri saw that Shuichi's eyes were still closed, like it was a dream that he didn't want to wake up from.

"Did you say seventy-four?" Eiri said normally. Shuichi could only nod as he was still entranced by the act that had recently occurred. "You can count that high?" Shuichi's eyes opened quickly. All form of romanticism that had surrounded the two had immediately shattered around them and fell into a sulfurous abyss known as "Letdown".

"You ass!" Shuichi half shouted, giving Eiri a playful punch on the arm.

Meanwhile, about fifteen minutes later…

"Hey Tai-kun, how's it going?" said a smug Hiroki as he leaned in the doorway. Hiroki was a boy of seventeen with hair a chocolaty brunette color and teal eyes. He was tall and good looking in a normal guy kind of way, with a love of trash-punk fashion no less. Ripped clothes are always hot on guys like that.

When he asked that infernal question, Hiroki knew that he had to be prepared for anything, but didn't show it in his nonchalant demeanor.

Taisho pushed him out of the way. "URUSEI! You know damn well how it's going! You call me at the ass crack of dawn--"

"Seven is hardly that early."

"Shut your mouth! That's beside the point!" Taisho plopped down on the couch. "Anyway, you call me early as hell in the morning, say you need help moving some furniture and I find no evidence of furniture being moved or a delivery truck being nearby, and you know what I think?" Hiroki, still looking smug, put up his hands to signal giving up. "I think you're a lying bastard who's trying to keep me from hanging out with my older friends!"

Hiroki glanced at his watch, then back at her. "You done?" Taisho nodded as Hiroki plopped onto the recliner next to the couch.

"What do you have against Ryu-chan, anyway?" Taisho said in an exasperated voice. "The guy's like a big brother to me."

"Tai-kun, I don't have anything against the guy, in fact I think he and Noriko-rin are really awesome." Hiroki explained, but then he gave her his famous "listen or I'll die" look. "It's just I haven't seen you in a while since you transferred out to a different school, everyone misses you, y'know."

Taisho couldn't help but smile at the fact people missed her. Taisho recently had to transfer out of her old high school because people would say horrible things about her unorthodox parents. She put her hand on Hiroki's head and rubbed some of his brunette hair. "I know," she said humbly, "I've missed you guys too. But you know how I am with keeping promises, so if you're asking me to blow off meeting with them, it won't work. You know this by now."

Hiroki put his hand on the one presently on his head, which took Taisho back a few steps in what was going on; he was depressed a few seconds ago. He looked into her eyes for a second and gave another signature expression. His big, friendly smile. He stood up. "I know, I just found something you might like. Just stay put." He vaulted over the back of the recliner and walked down the hall.

"What the hell…" Taisho muttered as she let her head fall back. She sat there for a while, thinking things over. Like why Hiroki gave her that look…what the hell was that about? Had he pulled an all-nighter and couldn't control certain expressions from sleep deprivation or something? It had happened before. This one time, he hadn't gotten any sleep because of entrance exams and when he tried to ask out this one girl he accidentally looked pissed off. The girl ran off, but not before back-handing him.

Hiroki ran back into the room with something behind his back and vaulted onto the couch, landing right next to Taisho and causing her to jump. He revealed what he held in his hand. "Here, your birthday was last week, right? Sorry I couldn't be there." Hiroki put it in Taisho's hand and the longer she looked, the more excited her face became.

It was a CD case that looked a little old, part of the cover had a tiny crack in it. The picture on the front had three smiling young men in it. The one to the far left looked to be the youngest and had short black hair and big, innocent chestnut colored eyes. The one to the far right looked the part of the oldest and was very handsome with reddish-brunette hair and eyes of dark gray-blue. He had his arm around the boy in the middle, who had the brightest smile of them all. He had pink hair and his eyes were closed, so she couldn't see his eyes color, but Taisho already knew that they were amethyst. She screamed in a voice so high pitched that it made every window within a ten block radius crack. This was the last CD that her father's band, Bad Luck, had ever released.

Taisho immediately jumped on Hiroki and they both fell to the floor. Hiroki let out a shout as his head hit the hardwood flooring. Taisho opened her mouth and spoke non-fangirl (tangible Japanese) so he could understand. "Hiroki, this is the best gift ever! You've never done anything cooler ever since I met you! I mean, it was awesome of you to hack into the school's computer system to change our grades in Science last year, but it didn't make me this happy!" She stopped abruptly as she heard the front door open. It was Hiroki's twin sister Aki.

"I didn't barge in on something I shouldn't have, did I?" she said a little unsure. Aki had short hair that was dyed blue and wore clothing in the same genre her brother did, gutter punk. She wore it well, in fact she always looked gorgeous with her numerous ear peircings and heavy mascara. She'd always been beautiful, ever since Taisho had known her when they were little kids.

"Ah?" Taisho let out. She looked down and realized where Aki was coming from this time. Taisho was laying on top of her best friend's brother (well Hiroki was a best friend too, but just go with me on this one), who was blushing like mad on the living room floor. Not a good thing to walk in on. Taisho immediately shot up and stood with her face redder than someone after ten shots of tequila at New Year's. Hiroki did the same.

Aki let out a laugh…okay, more like kept laughing for about ten more seconds and gave Taisho a big hug, which Taisho graciously accepted. They pulled apart and gave each other a thorough look-over. "I haven't seen you in forever, Tai-kun!"

"It's awesome to see you too, Aki-chan! It's sucks that I can't stay much longer."

"Why's that?" Aki said, disappointed and angry.

"I promised Ryu-chan and Noriko-rin last week that we would hang out together in Shibuya today." Taisho said in a sorry tone.

"Lucky! I wish I could hang out with Sakuma-san! He's hot!" Aki exclaimed. This certain exclamation didn't surprise Hiroki, but really hit Taisho. So hard, in fact, Taisho back onto the floor with a loud "THUNK!". She was a quick recovery though.

"Aki! The guy turned forty-five this year! I thought you liked my Uncle Tatsuha!" Taisho grabbed Aki by the shoulders and shook her a bit.

"Yea, but Sakuma-san, your Uncles Tohma and Tatsuha, not to mention your dads must know where the Fountain of Youth is because they still look hot as hell!" she said bluntly. Taisho was used to this part of the clueless honesty, at least. Aki always complemented on how beautiful the men of her family were.

It was true that Taisho had grown up around beautiful people. Before she did public high schooling, they were the only people she talked to. She would go to Shuichi for boy advice, Eiri for when she was in a pissy mood, Ryu for cheering up, Tatsuha for a confidence boost, Tohma for whenever she needed a model for her photography and Noriko and Mika for girl talk. Sure, they were all considerably older than she was, but they all treated Taisho like their daughter and friend.

"Right, well I'm off! It was nice seeing you guys again!" Taisho ran past through the doorway and down the stairs of their apartment complex. Taisho stopped on the sidewalk facing their balcony. "Thanks for the CD, Hiroki! It's the best present ever!" Hiroki ran to the balcony and saw her waving. He waved back at her with a large smile as he saw Taisho take off down the street.

Aki walked behind her brother. "CD? That's bullshit, you were screwing." Hiroki's face lit up like a plutonium-powered Christmas tree in a pitch black room. He faced his sister, not realizing he was blushing so furiously. "Knew it." Aki said smugly.

"Aki! Tai-kun is my best friend, you don't bone your best friend!" Hiroki shouted. Aki stuck a pinky in her ear to try and block out the noise.

"By the look of a certain area," she said, darting her eyes to his belt region, "I beg to differ, dear brother of mine." Hiroki looked down…and if his face was red before, it had now gone so deep that it turned near purple. He rushed out of the room immediately, still blushing furious as ever. Aki watched him run and sat down on the couch. "I totally won that."


	2. Chapter 2: Past and New Days

Chapter 2: Past and New Days 

/Translation-thing: Tasukete: "Help me!" or "Save me!"/ -chi: an honorific that people use to imply huge cuteness. Mainly used by high school girls or people who are just plain happy./ Kirsche Affe: Put together, these two German words mean "cherry monkey"./ Guten Tag: "good day" in German./

While all of these fascinating things had been happening to our happy heroine, novelist Eiri Yuki sat in his study by his laptop. Shuichi was gone for a shoot about some sort of cologne and without him there it was rather quiet. Eiri was now turning around in his spinny chair with a cigarette in his mouth. This usually worked whenever he had writer's block, but it just wasn't enough this time.

But what was? He'd already tried pacing around the room, taking a stretch or two or twelve, going out to the balcony and looking down to see the people and how small they were, and even spinning around in his office chair while staring at the ceiling and singing "Row, Row, Row Your Boat" while thinking about strawberry cheesecake! (A/N: Sorry, that's one of my methods ;) None of them worked! So he finally decided on going into Taisho's room and stealing one of her CDs, the music might help.

Eiri wasn't frightened at all when he saw the state of Taisho's room…though he didn't remember the walls being red or Taisho having a canopy on her bed. But aside from that, he liked the chaos of everything looking like it had just been flung a mile by a tornado. Clothes littered the floor from the t-shirt search Eiri had overheard earlier that day, pictures Taisho had taken were strung across her room on strings and kept on by clothing pins, posters and collages plastered her walls and everything was just a mess…Eiri preferred it. What was it referred to as? Creative clutter? Yes, that was the phrase.

"Now where the hell does she keep her CDs?" Eiri asked himself. Yes, that was the right question, and so he started searching through the piles of items. Was it on her desk? No, the only things on there were finished homework and notes from classes. What a shocker. Perhaps they were near the CD player, makes sense, right? Well, it seemed this place made no sense and all logical thought was left at the door, but Eiri checked anyway. No luck there. Getting a little frustrated he looked by Taisho's bedside table and sure enough, the CD holder was acting as a lift for a picture frame.

Eiri picked it up and smirked at the picture. In the photograph were two men and a small girl no older than five. The taller man had golden hair and matching eyes, he wasn't smiling but the other two in the photo made up for that. The shorter man had bright pink hair and glittering eyes of lavender. He wore a large and calming smile, directed at a little girl with blonde hair that went to her shoulders, eyes closed and smiling wide. This was the first picture the Shindo-Yuki family had taken together.

Just seeing this photo reminded Eiri of a day that would change he and Shuichi's lives forever. It was a warm Summer's day twelve years ago…

"I see, exactly what kind of child are you looking for, Yuki-san?" asked Mrs. Otogiri, a plump woman in her forties. She had brown hair that was pulled into a braid, making it easier to see some streaks of gray. This woman was in charge of a Tokyo children's home on the outskirts of the city.

"Uh," Eiri looked at Shuichi for a moment. Was it mandatory to have one in mind before you came? This woman said nothing like that over the phone. "We were sort of hoping we could talk to the kids and see which one might be best."

"Is that all right?" Shuichi asked innocently. Oh God, he was hoping it was. Eiri was the one who said he was ready for a child and dammit, so was Shuichi. It sounded like the best twentieth birthday present ever, and if one little formality was keeping him from this, then Shuichi would be one unhappy camper… okay, more like raving lunatic, borderline homicidal camper.

"Oh, of course it's all right." Otogiri said with a smile. Yuki and Shuichi both let out big sighs of relief. "The children are having playtime right now, so if you'll just follow me I'll show you to the playground." The two men did as requested and followed her outside.

Never before had Eiri seen so many children in one place. They were running this way and that, playing soccer or jump rope or what other sources of childish amusement they were utilizing (which for a child is nearly endless) and Shuichi almost instantly went to a pair of little girls and asked if he could join their game of hopscotch. Eiri watched them play and felt a sense of peace as he watched Shuichi smile and laugh with all these different children. But occasionally, his eyes would wander away to a young girl on the other side of the playground who was sitting at a table alone, reading a book.

She had short blonde hair that was pulled into tiny braids and glasses; she looked very serious in what she was reading. Eiri could just barely make out "Grimm Brothers' Fairytales" on the cover. She wore a blue jumper over a red tank top with a yellow star on it and her green Converse-encased feet were swinging, not even close to touching the ground. Eiri had to admit he was intrigued by this strange little girl. Feeling a strange urge to know more, he stopped a freckly little brunette girl, kneeled down so the two were eye level and looked at her with the kindest look he could muster, lest he scare the kid off.

"What's your name?"

She blushed for a second, she probably thought he was pretty. "Hiromi."

"That's a pretty name. I'm Eiri." He said in his sweet voice. "Well, Hiromi, could you tell me who that girl over there is?" Eiri pointed in said girl's general direction. The freckled girl looked over to her, and with glee at knowing who it was, looked back at Eiri with a happy expression.

"Oh, that's Taisho." She started. "Taisho's a new girl; only been here a month. She's really smart and really nice, but some boys are jealous of her because she's better than them at everything, she can read chapter books too!"

"Is that so?" Eiri said under his breath. He looked down at Hiromi. "Well thank you for your help, Hiromi. It was very nice of you." Hiromi nodded quickly and ran back to her friends who were giggling like maniacs. It would seem that women were natural gossipers from five to the grave. Eiri looked back at the little girl, Taisho. But then he heard crying and saw that Shuichi had tripped and scratched up his knee something awful.

Eiri walked over and inspected Shuichi's knee…lots of blood, figures, Shuichi was definitely a bleeder. So, just to see Shuichi's expression, Eiri picked him up like a groom does a bride when walking into the honeymoon suite and set him down on the benches. After getting a first aid kit and wrapping up Shuichi's knee, a commotion came out over on the other side of the playground that caught the men's attentions.

"Sit here," Eiri said as he walked over to get a better look at the scene. Three rather large boys stood in a circle and seemed to be tossing something back and forth that looked something like glasses between them, never a good sign. Even worse, the girl in the center much smaller than they were, but instead of crying for them to give back whatever they were throwing, the child stood there throwing glares that could kill at each of them. He thought for a moment but then saw familiar traits on this girl; braided blond hair, blue jumper and green Converse…this was the girl Hiromi told him about, Taisho!

"What cha' gonna do now, huh?" sneered one of the boys who was so freckled he was almost tanned. Or maybe he was just foreign. He threw them across the circle and was caught by a large boy.

"Yeah!" said the biggest boy. And when I say biggest I mean "DAMN!" this kid was husky! "Without your stupid glasses, you can't see, can ya? You can't do nuthin'!"

"First of all, the right word is 'anything' not 'nothing' and next, I only need my glasses to read, I can still kick your butt all the way back to whatever barn in Hokkaido you came out of!" she said viciously, still using an ominous glare.

The first thing that came out of Yuki's mouth was "Wow, quite the vocabulary for a toddler. And she's cynical…awesome."

"What'd you say?" screamed the fat boy.

"I said that I don't need glasses to hit such a big target, Gonta. I'll just pretend your butt's a soccer ball and bend it like I were David Beckham on steroids!" she said with triumph in her voice. Eiri was liking this kid with every passing minute.

"You'll pay!" the kid screamed louder than he had before, and tackled Taisho to the ground. But she wasn't taking this at all, so she scratched and kicked and the two ended up rolling around, kicking the crap out of each other like kamikaze planes. But then for a second, Taisho's arms dropped and the boy found his opening. A punch straight in the chin and another in the stomach, all of this in a second.

"Tasukete!" screamed Taisho.

Eiri felt something in him that he hadn't felt in a long while. Was it righteousness? Pity? No, it was relevance. With only two steps, he had gone to the attacker child, swooped down on him and held up the screaming child by the back of his sweater. Shuichi came hobbling over and saw this act. Sure, he heard that Eiri nearly killed a member of a band whose lead singer had him raped. What was the injured guy's name? Ma-kun? But the fact was, he had never actually seen Eiri defending the weak.

Seeing Shuichi, Eiri dropped the child (who promptly ran away) and looked at his partner, a look of pride on the pink-haired lover's face. But his eyes wandered to the little girl on the ground, who was trying to stand up with a grimace on her face. Eiri walked over to this poor child and did something that Shuichi was (for once) familiar with seeing: the outstretched hand of a golden-haired angel. But this time, the angel was helping a fellow golden comrade, no matter the size. "Do you want some help?" he asked her in a quiet voice.

She looked up at him and saw something so pure and so innocent, he couldn't help but stare for a second or two. Eiri found himself staring into a pair of large eyes the color of lavender and for a second thought this was all a hallucination and that he was looking into Shuichi's eyes. But seeing the blond hair, he realized that these orbs belonged to the injured little girl named Taisho. But there was something strange in these eyes; sure, there was childish curiosity at who this was, but this girl had just been beaten and there were no tears streaming down her now dirty face. Weren't children supposed to cry when stuff like this happened.

Shuichi saw this girl's confusion and went over to her as well. He crouched down on his good knee and looked at her at eye level. "Are you alright?" Now the tiny child couldn't believe her eyes, these men next to her were beautiful beyond compare and wanted to help. It was as if they were angels sent down just for her and strangely felt as though she knew the faces of these two from somewhere. But to answer Shuichi's question, she simply nodded. At this, the younger man smiled brightly. "Well that's good to hear, but I think you might have trouble balancing yourself. Where did that boy hit you?" In a daze she pointed to where she had been punched and both Eiri and Shuichi immediately winced at the thought of himself getting hit there.

"I'm surprised you didn't puke from the stomach hit. Looks like he got you in the liver." Eiri said casually. Okay, maybe it was a little more aloof than casual, but for the sake of making a certain Tokyo romance novelist sound nice, we're going to use "casual".

"You're a very brave little girl. If I was hit the face, I'd probably be crying." Shuichi let out a laugh to show his happy intent. At this, the little girl let out a gasp and buried her face in her hands. A second or so later, she felt them being opened and saw the most gorgeous things she had ever laid eyes on.

Eiri gave her a look. "Don't be embarrassed, there's no need to hide."

"Your eyes are really pretty." Taisho said very quietly as she looked into the golden eyes of Eiri Yuki that looked straight into hers. Taisho snapped out of it quickly and turned her attention to Shuichi and then back to Eiri. "Are you two angels?" The two were stunned at this. Here was this adorable little girl calling them angels! Shuichi looked at Eiri and in response, he shrugged as if to say "Go ahead". Shuichi could barely contain himself, in fact, he didn't. He reached out and picked her up. Hugging her and swinging her around, he was beside himself in glee.

"Yes, we're angels! We're your guardian angels here to help you!" Shuichi exclaimed while dancing around with the little girl, he heard a small whimper and put her down quickly. "Oh sorry! I forgot about the stomach! Sorry!"

Taisho brushed herself off quickly and massaged the spot where it hurt. "That's okay, not your fault. But by "here to help me", do you mean--"

"TAISHO!" screamed Mrs. Otogiri as she jogged toward the three holding the hand of a certain plump troublemaker, Gonta. She, stopped very close to the small group out of breath, but still confronted them. "Gonta here said that you were calling him names and tackled him, explain yourself."

Taisho glared at Gonta as she spoke. "He's lying! He took my glasses and passed them around with Rikuno and Nagi! He was making fun of me, so I said things to him and he was the one who jumped on me!"

"She's lying!" screamed Gonta, fakest tears ever seen welling up in his eyes.

"Oh come on kid," said a cold voice. A quick turn of the head confirmed that it was Eiri Yuki, who was now standing next to Taisho in a defending manner, "that's bullshit and you know it." Mrs. Otogiri looked appalled at Eiri's use of language and so did Gonta but Taisho just looked at him like he were a role model of some sort, more accurately the coolest mother fucker alive. "I saw the entire thing, that little bastard you have next to you took her glasses and jumped her. Sure she said some things, but that was in defense and they don't seem entirely false by the look of things."

Shuichi, suddenly feeling inspired and bold, stood up and looked with a mischievous smirk at the stunned old woman. "If you don't believe him, which I know you should, notice Taisho's dirty and barely standing without aid, not to mention not wearing her glasses." Shuichi kneeled down to Gonta's height and smiled, throwing the boy off. With lightening speed, he whipped a pair of dusty glasses out of the front pocket of his pants.

Taisho stood completely amazed. "How did he do that?" she said in a half-whisper.

"You know those scratch DJ games in arcades? He plays those constantly. I swear that's all he does there, he barely even plays DDR." Taisho thought that over, it made sense to have quick fingers from playing that game all the time.

Shuichi dangled the glasses in front of his face so Mrs. Otogiri could see the proof. "Why those are--," she looked down at Gonta, who looked pretty friggin' scared now. "Gonta! You go to the time-out room!" Obediently, and hastily, he ran as fast as his short legs could carry him to the main building. She looked back at the two men with a worried and embarrassed look on her face. "I'm sorry sirs, this doesn't usually happen and I swear it won't happen again."

"No it won't," Yuki stated bluntly. But then he picked up Taisho and set her on his shoulder. "It won't because we'd like Taisho to be our new daughter."

And so that was how she came to live with the two and how Taisho had met all the people she had befriended now. Yuki put the frame down and took the CD case out of the room. When he returned to the study, he flipped through, popped in Sex Pistols and then realized something…he didn't know what to Shuichi after Eiri tried to have sex with him in his bedroom when the kid had a gotten cold.

"How the hell am I supposed to know this?" Eiri grunted as he ran a hand through his shimmering blond hair. Eiri rattled his brain as he tried to remember if Shuichi had said anything about talking to someone about it…but then a name came to him. "Nakano…he'd know!" Eiri rushed out of the room and looked through Shuichi's address book trying to find "Hiro and Ayaka". Sure enough, it was there with a small heart drawn next to the names Hiro, Ayaka…and Kazuki Nakano.

Way away from the study of the apartment…

Taisho darted through the weekend crowds in Shibuya with ease, for fear that she would be late meeting with Ryuichi and Noriko. She knew how small an attention span Ryu had and didn't want to arrive at the meeting place and not see anyone there or see that Ryu had gathered a crowd. Drooling fangirls were not a good thing right now, or any other time because fangirls meant attention and attention meant photographers and photographers meant reporters who would corrupt the event entirely!

She skidded to a halt at Daikin-yama Cafe, the established meeting place. One glance through the glass doors at who was sitting at the counter gave her the okay that she hadn't been late. Taisho distinctly saw the backs of two familiar head, one with purple hair in pigtails and the other with short, shaggy brown hair. She strode in, trying to hide her exhaustion from all the running and stepped right behind the two she was there to see. "You should get the bread pudding, it rocks." Said a voice behind her. Taisho jumped and turned around, and there were the people she had been waiting to see! What?

Ryuichi was in his mid-forties (you could never tell by the look of him) with shaggy brown hair and sparkling blue eyes filled with joy rivaled only by a child on Christmas morning. The woman next to him was Noriko, also in her forties, and also didn't look it, with hair of light lavender, in which she had recently put golden streaks all throughout it, and calming gray eyes. Before Taisho could even respond, she had been pulled into one of Noriko and Ryuichi's tag team, spine deteriorating hugs. When she was finally released, hardly able to stand she remembered that the people at the counter were now somehow in front of her, though a look over her shoulder told here the people at the counter were still there. "Wha? How?" Taisho had no idea what was going on, same as anyone else in that situation.

The two at the counter quickly turned in their chairs and seemed to rip off their hair! Taisho squeaked, but a look at the so called hair on the floor revealed them to be wigs…really good wigs. "What the hell is going on here!" screamed the little people in Taisho's brain. She turned her attention back to the imposters from the counter and suddenly felt happier than she had when Hiroki gave her the CD earlier, proceeding to pounce on the two. "Uncle Tohma! Uncle Tatsuha!" she cried.

The two embraced her with open arms and warming smiles. Then Noriko and Ryu joined in and then everyone was laughing. They all broke apart after a few seconds, though they had to pry Tatsuha from Ryuichi. "What are you doing here Uncle Tohma? I thought you were in Paris for another four days!"

Tohma chuckled a bit. "Yes, well I took the fastest jet out of Paris this morning after realizing that I'd missed your birthday again. I remember promising you this Summer that I wouldn't miss it." Tohma gave her a kiss on the forehead. "But enough of that," he said finally, "let me get a good look at you." Taisho willfully stood still with a big smile on her face, but the truth was, she was looking him over as well. And dammit, Tohma Seguchi looked exactly the same as he always had from as far back as she could remember.

Tohma Seguchi was in the same situation as Noriko and Ryuichi, was in his forties but didn't look a day over twenty or so. He'd always had that innocent smile reminiscent of a cherub, but on the inside nobody could even fathom the intricacies that went on in there. He could be planning a beauty pageant or the assassination of a political leader and nobody would ever know. He had pale blond hair that looked the color of champagne and eyes of a nice teal, leaning more towards blue.

A glance to the left was all Taisho needed to start this off well, but she spoke anyway. "And what about you, Uncle Tatsuha? Last I heard you were performing a funeral service in Okinawa, hardly in the neighborhood."

Tatsuha Uesugi was a very handsome man with black hair and brown eyes. To put his appearance simply, it was Eiri with a natural Japanese color scheme to him. Tatsuha also seemed to be the opposite of Tohma when standing next to him. Tohma being a perfect little angel and Tatsuha seeming like one of the fallen. A mischievous smile across his face making his personality clear; he was a hooligan, capable of raising all hell if he so wished.

Tatsuha only shrugged. "I dunno, something about the body getting stolen and sent off to sea. And I wanted to see if you really do look different in the first week of being seventeen."

"That has to be, by far, the lamest excuse I've ever heard you come up with. Total bullshit." Taisho said in a convicting tone. "It's alright if you say you came for Ryuichi, I think it's cute."

Ryuichi looked up from the piece of aluminum foil he'd been amusing himself with for the past moments. "What about me being cute?"

"Nothing, just Uncle Tatsuha saying he wanted your hot ass again." Taisho said in a perfectly blunt manner. Tatsuha's jaw nearly hit the floor, Noriko's eyes seemed to bug out of her head and Tohma…well, he just chuckled.

"Oh, okay!" Ryuichi giggled and went back to his little aluminum buddy, deserving of a pat or two on the head. Tatsuha got out of his semi comatose state and took a gigantic sigh of relief. He kept forgetting that Ryuichi, beautiful as he was, was smart as a rock. When certain things were said, there was no cause for alarm.

After ordering some lattes and pie slices for everyone, the misfit group left the café and started on the intended shopping adventure. They decided to pull names out of a hat for where they would go. The first stop was Tohma's choice and that was new wardrobe shopping. Sure, Taisho had enough clothes and things, but she was growing out a lot of them so Tohma volunteered to buy them all new wardrobes just because he could. They all left extremely happy and in the new outfits they bought. Taisho in her usual intellectual punk thing, Tatsuha with tight jeans and a tight black shirt, Noriko in a very happy gal sort of thing, Tohma with his usual boa and trench coat ensemble in different colors and Ryuichi in skater attire (he could've passed for a high school student in his outfit).

Next place: Noriko's choice! All of them went to a theater and saw a horror flick called "Phantom Reign" and all of the boys ended up screaming their pretty little heads off. Taisho and Noriko acted as cling posts for the especially stomach-churning moments. By the end of the film, Tohma was staring off into the distance with his heart pounding out of his chest, Ryuichi was crying and Tatsuha looked thoroughly freaked out. Noriko helped calm Ryuichi down a bit and Taisho…she whipped out her cell and took pictures of these three grown men crying like little bitches. "Movie tickets for five adults: 4500 yen," Taisho said as she was pulling out the little device, "seeing three out of five nearly wetting their pants," she held up the phone and there was a flash, "priceless."

Their next place was Tatsuha's choice, and that was to play the usual game of "Most Phone Numbers Wins" in the plaza. The rules were simple; the person with the most phone numbers gets 1000 yen from each one who participates and you can't ask people you know for their numbers. Taisho, being seventeen, was now allowed to join the game according to the others with Noriko to act as referee. After splitting up and then meeting back at the statue of Hachiko the Dog after an hour of number hunting, they compared the scores.

Tohma: 127 (most from males ;)

Ryuichi: 184

Tatsuha: 180

When they finally got to Taisho, she forked over her cell with an angry look on her face. "Just go into 'recently added' and you'll find it." She grunted. Noriko looked and was completely flabbergasted by the number. And then Tatsuha, Ryuichi and Tohma leaned in to look and all exclaimed the exact…same…thing…

"TWO HUNDRED NINETY-FOUR!" they shouted. Taisho looked at the ground with a big blush on he face. "Why the hell are you so angry? You beat us all by a shit load!" Tatsuha inquired.

She cried and went into a fetal position as she spoke. "Because only twenty of them were boys my age!"

The next destination was Taisho's choice, and that was to go into an arcade. Once stepping in, Ryuichi seemed to be having a seizure with just the sheer excitement of seeing all the flashing lights and hearing the awesome music. After all nodding at each other they all went after the same things. Any game that included the word "mania", "revolution", "extreme" or "paradise". Every one of them a music associated game. Who'd have thought, right? You would never guess that a musician's daughter, a disbanded but no hard feelings at all band and a certain singer's all-time favorite fan boy would play anything related to music, right? After asking if it was possible to plug two DDR machines together and finding it was, Taisho and Tohma went against Ryuichi and Noriko while Tatsuha acted as commentator. Strangely enough, all four tied…for highest score. Way to go choreography!

The final stop would definitely be the highlight of the day: Ryuichi's choice. These were always good, no exceptions, whether it be Shakespearean excerpts on a bench or Insult Scavenger Hunt, it was always entertaining in the end. "Taisho, go limp." Ryuichi said quickly.

"Why?" Taisho inquired.

"Because we're gonna play a new game," he said slyly, "it's called Inconspicuous Corpse, it's an attention game. Since you're the lightest, you're the corpse we carry around like we're trying to find a place to stash you." Taisho cocked an eyebrow at the statement and looked at the others who nodded with evil looking grins. She simply shrugged and did as previously told and went limp before the others could even barely catch her.

And so she was carried through the streets of Shibuya. With Tatsuha and Noriko holding the upper body, Tohma holding up her legs and Ryuichi darting his head this way and that with a pair of Yakuza sunglasses. Taisho could only imagine the looks on people's faces as they went by, what with her eyes closed and her tongue lolling out of her head. A few times they almost dropped her but they made a quick recovery of it and added it to the script. It was rather uncomfortable…being bounced around and being held only by her limbs at certain points. Head bonking into Tatsuha's belt buckle. Her knees feeling like they would bend backwards at other times. But they were all having a grand old time.

After twenty minutes of this, they stood her up on her feet. "Alright! Open your eyes, Tai-kun!" All the adults stated happily in unison. Taisho did as demanded (not asked, mind you!) and as she saw where they were standing, her lovely lavender eyes widened and she immediately knew what it was.

It was a where house, but being a photography buff, Taisho put all things together and realized that a photo shoot was going on inside. She had seen many a scenario like this with Shuichi as well. "Oh. My. God." Seemingly unable to move of her own free will, Tatsuha picked her up and carried her inside even though his arms were tired from carrying her torso for a good amount of time. All the people around her were wearing the happiest smiles anyone would ever see.

Once inside, Taisho was revived by the clicking and flashing of cameras and statements like "Move your chin a little to the left." And things like that. There were three different cameras stationed around the little scene. It was a platform shaped like a cliff edge and there was an entirely green background behind it, for obvious reasons known as a "green screen", which are used for cut and paste backgrounds of absolutely any image desired. One of the people behind the cameras turned as she heard the new footsteps and practically exploded in happiness when her eyes landed on the group. "Ryu-chi!" She practically skipped over to them, her spiky purple and bright red hair bouncing at every step.

"Kirsche-chan!" screamed Ryuichi as he held out his arms to pull her into an embrace. But just a few steps away from his warm arms, she tripped on a cord and her face collided with the cold concrete of the where house floor. Taisho was about to step forward until she saw the strange photographer flip herself into a handstand and then rounded off, her feet only centimeters away from Taisho's nose. She looked at Taisho for a second, complete concentration and stoicism in her eyes but then said eyes went to Ryuichi and the happy was back on.

"_Guten Tag_!" She said jubilantly as she shot her hand into the air. With a group "hello" from everyone but Ryuichi, Kirsche looked absolutely ecstatic.

Ryuichi put an arm around the foreigner girl and looked at Taisho. "Tai-kun, this is Kirsche Affe." Taisho stifled a giggle at the name's meaning (read translation-thing at the top to understand). "She's an international photographer from Germany and she said that she needed some help for a CD shoot today, so I thought 'Why not Tai-kun?'"

"Seriously, I've never heard such praise before about one person before." Kirsche said plainly, which made Taisho blush furiously. "But he backed up the praise with some pictures you took over the Summer, I must say it's some of the best work I've ever seen in my life!"

"Well…there were so many interesting things to capture, I couldn't h-help it. But I-I'm not all THAT good…" Taisho mumbled modestly.

"Nonsense! What sort of trash are people feeding you!" Kirsche exclaimed. "Definitely really awesome. You're really good and anyone who says otherwise should rot in hell!"

"Well, thank you, Affe-san." Taisho said in a respectfully delighted tone.

"Oh, please call me Kirsche-chan, or something to that extent at least! It has a pleasant ring to it." The crazy German patted her on the shoulder and led her over to the cameras and both had a thorough discussion on the emotion the image was to project to the audience. Considering the band was a gothic visual kei band, they decided that sadness and beauty was the thing to do. When Taisho finally got to the cameras it seemed like no one could stop her. She zoomed in and out and took pictures from all angles and caught the most beautiful images she could. Even to the people she had come with, all of them were completely amazed by the energy she had and the expression on her face as she worked was nothing short of determined enjoyment.

As Taisho worked, she saw Kirsche too and realized she had a sort of boyish charm about her. Noticing the fair eyes and skin was the first thing, but her styled hair and wiry body made her look like the male drama students at her school. She was also extremely tall compared to everyone else in the room and had a sort of unisex beauty that would catch the eye of anyone she walked past.

When the shoot was over, she ended up with the phone numbers of Kirsche, the members of the band she was helping ("Dorian's Portrait"), a girl who was helping with catering and many others. She happily trudged home with a big grin on her face and as she walked though the door to the apartment and collapsed just after opening the door, Eiri came out of his crypt of inspiration, crouched down and just had to ask. "I take it you had fun?"

She looked at him with a tired but still happy expression. "That's putting it on the mildest of terms, Otosan."


	3. Chapter 3:Surprise Day

Chapter 3: Surprise Day

Translation thing//moshi-moshi: the Japanese way to say "hello" when answering a phone./ Oniichan: Japanese for "brother". Not quite sure if the "chan" part makes it "little brother" or not, but if so then Aki is the older twin./

While Taisho was out in Shibuya having the time of her life, Shuichi was doing a different photo shoot for one of he and Eiri's novelist friends, Minabi Kokubo. Shuichi was singing to some song on his MP3 player by The Stand Up that sounded reminiscent of drunk Caribbean pirates (Jack Sparrow, sorry ;)on the way to the studio. He took the convenient way of riding a bike to this particular place considering it was maybe twenty minutes away from the apartment.

Shuichi stopped and pondered the possible events of the oncoming shoot. "I wonder what they'll be specifically wanting me to do…I mean, I know the book's a tragedy, but then what'll I need to look like?" He stopped asked himself this as he took a sip of his strawberry soda that he had brought with him. "I'll bet I have to look really emo or something. God, it'd help if I could just remember the name of the book!" Shuichi cursed himself for his horrible memory again and then went on his way again.

When he arrived, he was immediately waved over happily by Minabi. Minabi Kokubo was a short young woman in her late twenties with feathered, inky black hair that went to her shoulder blades and covered her left eye. She had brilliant eyes (well, the one people could see anyway) that were a gray and absorbed color so easily that her eyes looked bluish-purple most of the time and had already won awards for her horror and tragedy novels. "Hi, Minabi-chan!" Shuichi giddily exclaimed. "So, where should I go? Usually there's a makeup department thingy at these shoots and all I see are some costumes."

"Oh, about that." Minabi said sort of guiltily. "Well, for this, no makeup is needed, just some of this." A mischievous grin grew on her face as she held up a tiny container.

"Is that an eye dropper?" Shuichi asked in bewilderment.

"Yeah, now hold still!" Minabi seized Shuichi and pinned him to the ground and he started to scream in shock. "Urusei!" she shouted over him. "Now shut your eyes, this'll sting if it gets in them." Shuichi stopped flailing his head around and shut his eyes extremely tight. He flinched when the cold liquid streamed down both sides of his head. "Okay, open your eyes and stand up quickly before the stuff leads into your hair." For fear of some strange chemical destroying his hair, he did exactly as told.

"What the hell is this stuff?" Shuichi asked. "It smells salty."

"That's because it's salt water, dude." Minabi said calmly, with a taste of irritation in her tone. "It's supposed to simulate tears because I don't feel like kicking you…today."

"Tears?" Shuichi inquired.

Minabi nodded. "Yeah. The book's called 'When All Angels Have Died' and the picture we're shooting is of you dressed as a fallen angel, so just look sad and it'll be perfect."

Shuichi tapped his fist on his palm. "I knew it was going to be emo!"

Minabi grabbed him by the shirt and yanked him down to her level, which sort of hurt Shuichi's back considering she was so petite. "It's not emo, it's symbolism, it's art, it's beautiful and it sells!" she growled at him, making Shuichi want to shed tears without the assistance of a dropper. "Clear?" she said, still growling. Our poor little pink-haired hero could only nod, he felt as if he was being stared down by Satan. She let him go and a smile quickly grew on her face. "Fabulous!" she exclaimed, clapping her hands together. "Now change into that white outfit and put on the wings, we're shooting in five minutes!"

And so Shuichi quickly changed, trying not to smear Minabi's artificial tears and asking what straps buckled where. Okay, so it wasn't all that quick because he needed help with the wings and the bandages they were to put on his forearms that were stained brownish-red on the insides, so he just had to ask about it. "Hey Minabi?" Shuichi asked while trying to wrap the bandages tight enough. "Is this stuff supposed to be on here?" Shuichi exposed the stains to her and she put down her coffee to answer.

"Of course," she answered with a smile, "one of the book's characters ends up slitting his wrists, and you actually look a lot like the character so I thought, 'Why the hell not!' and asked for them to put watercolor on the wrappings." Shuichi was a bit freaked out by that, but he proceeded with the shoot.

The process was actually quite speedy because Minabi kept saying things to make Shuichi look beautifully sad; like people in his life leaving him and stuff like that, so Shuichi got home fairly earlier than he expected, arriving near half an hour or so after Taisho. And much like the daughter, the co-father collapsed at the doorway as well with a loud THUMP.

Taisho peeked her head out of her room with a phone next to her ear, her hair was down and a little creased from the ponytails. "Well, today's your lucky day, he just fell in." She placed the phone near her chest. "Hey Pink Otosan!" Taisho called from the hallway. "You're just in time, there's someone on the phone for you."

"Really?" Shuichi said in an exasperated voice, not removing his face from the floor. "Where's Eiri?" He added.

"Scary Otosan went to the store to buy stuff for dinner," Taisho replied, "want me to hand you the cordless?" she asked in a sympathetic voice to the grown man on the floor. He lifted his arm with a beckoning motion. "Just hold on a minute, okay? All right, thanks." Taisho rushed to the study and got the cordless phone out for Shuichi. She held it by his ear until he registered it was there and then went back to her room and hung up that phone.

After hearing the click, Shuichi decided to begin talking. "Moshi-moshi?" Shuichi said groggily.

The voice chuckled, and suddenly Shuichi shot up, not believing the voice. "You sound like crap, Shuichi. Yuki-san getting rougher?" it said jokingly.

Shuichi gave a gasp of delight. "Hiro!" Shuichi could just imagine his friend nodding his head at that exact moment. "Omigod, it's been forever! How've you been? How's Ayaka? What's Kyoto look like this time of year? Oh and what about Kazuki? He's Taisho's age now, right? No wait, he's older!"

Hiro began to laugh, Shuichi had missed that laugh far too much. "Fine, fine, everything's fine." Hiro said happily. "Ayaka's been doing great, she had a cold last week but nothing some tea didn't fix. Kyoto's looking gorgeous because of Autumn but that means a bunch of tourists are coming." Shuichi laughed at the shiver sound Hiro made following that. "And Kazuki is doing better school wise…at least it's Cs instead of Ds."

"That's weird, I thought anyone that was in a house with you and Ayaka for more than two years would become a super genius." Shuichi stated bluntly.

"Shuichi, you of all people should know that children rarely ever turn out like their parents. I mean look at us for one! Not exactly a doctor, now am I?" Hiro made a good point, neither he nor Shuichi had become what their parents had intended.

"I guess not." Shuichi admitted. "But Taisho's getting almost as smart as Eiri, and sometimes she even talks like him! I cant' stay in a conversation for more than ten minutes most of the time." After a bit of reminiscence and laughing between sworn friends, Shuichi decided to stray from the subject. "So what do I owe the honor of this call?"

Shuichi knew that the expression Hiro was wearing was most likely a puzzled one. "What do you mean by that?"

"Usually, you only call when something big happens." Shuichi deducted. "From what we've been saying, everything's perfectly normal." Shuichi paused for a second and heard Hiro sigh.

"I guess the cat's out of the bag, huh? What a shame." Hiro said in a breathy voice. "And I was so intent on having you surprised when I walked to your doorstep."

"Hiro, what are you talking about?" This sounded a bit strange for Hiro. "You know you can tell me anything, so just say it, what are you babbling about?"

"Okay, but don't overexert yourself when you hear this," Hiro took a pause, he probably knew that Shuichi nodded at hearing the beginning, "we're all moving to Tokyo." There was absolute silence. "The whole family. Ayaka, Kazuki and I. We're going to be there."

Not even an atomic bomb could compare to the strength of Shuichi's supersonic squeal. "FOR REALS!" He exclaimed into the phone. Hiro could hear a few car alarms on both sides of the conversation. It was a good thing Eiri had bought potassium enhanced Plexiglas windows, otherwise they would have shattered immediately, whether it be from the scream or the maniacal giggling that followed.

"What did I say about overexerting yourself, Shu?" Hiro stated in an "I totally called that" tone of voice. Shuichi immediately stopped rocking back and forth and picked up the receiver to answer.

"Hiro, this is great! No this is better than great, this is, this is, Taisho what's a good phrase!"

"Mind-blowingly stupendous?" called Taisho from her room.

"You heard the girl!" Shuichi squeaked. "Mind-blowingly stupendous!" Hiro was now officially laughing his ass off and Shuichi could even hear a fist repeatedly colliding with a hardwood floor while the other tried to push the body back up. Shuichi got back onto topic for once. "I can't believe it! When are you coming down here? Do you have a place in mind? Has Kazuki picked out a school? What the hell will your job be here?"

Hiro paused to answer. "I'll reply from the last question up." Shuichi nodded furiously and listened intently. "I'm now a manager at NG, for the band Kara Mara Muerte; Kazuki will be going to Touhaku High School; we've got the house in our possession, we just got the keys in the mail yesterday and the place is beautiful."

"Yeah, yeah, I get that but when are you coming down? We totally have to hang out when you get here!" Shuichi badgered. His slight rage stopped when he heard a chortle.

"Let's just say that I'm closer than you think." Hiro said dryly, intending to sound like an old man or a strangled cat…either way, it kept Shuichi's ADD from totally taking over.

"Don't give that cryptic shit, you asshole!" Shuichi exclaimed. "Just tell me where you are so I can pounce on you!"

"Well, it would appear that we're at the Holiday Inn in Shinjuku…you do know where that is, right?" Hiro asked skeptically.

"Of course not! But I'll track you down to the ends of the Earth if I have to!" Shuichi exclaimed…again. "Expect me there in, like, five minutes with Eiri and Taisho!" Shuichi hung up and dialed Eiri's cell number with such speed, that Keanu Reeves in "The Matrix" couldn't top that in a million years. "Eiri!" Shuichi yelled into the phone. "Cancel dinner plans! We're going out tonight!"

Just for a change of character POV…

Taisho had heard that Hiroshi and Ayaka Nakano had a son that was adopted because Ayaka was infertile, so at least there was one thing motivating her to go. But she knew only one thing as she sat in the den of a hotel room, and that was that thirty-four year old Hiroshi Nakano was an extremely attractive man. He had long brunette hair that was tied back, with a few wisps in his face. During the discussion, he constantly pushed said wisps out of his eyes…his charming, blue-gray eyes. It almost made Taisho sad that he already had a beautiful wife. Yes, Ayaka was like the feminine equivalent of her husband, only with a more regal and old-fashioned air about her rather than a laid back and warm one.

"So how've things been going for you two?" Ayaka asked with a sweet smile. Now Taisho was a little sad. She was like a Stepford Wife! But back to Ayaka's question, by "you two" she obviously meant Shuichi and Eiri.

"Things are really good!" Shuichi said cheerfully, snapping Taisho out of her bout of mini-depression. "I just signed a contract with a new line called Skit Smile and Eiri's starting a new novel," Shuichi gave a playful look at Eiri, "though he refuses to tell me what it's about."

"Ya don't say?" Hiro almost murmured as he took a sip of tea that Ayaka had just prepared. "Maybe it's about you?" He said with a grin. Eiri would've gagged on the tea he was drinking if reason and bodily reflexes hadn't told him otherwise. He instead gave the ex-guitarist a glare that even Satan would turn to stone from.

"Nah!" Shuichi said with a laugh. "Don't get both our hopes up, Eiri's not as romantic as all that!"

"Damn straight." Eiri said in his usual aloof and monotonous voice, sending the rest of the room into chuckling and merry conversation. Taisho basically just sat there, bored out of her mind and only spoke when spoken to. She practically jumped at the chance to refill the snack bowl when Hiro pointed it out.

"I'll do it!" Taisho said eagerly. Almost a little too eager, if you were there and able to hear her.

"Please allow me to get them," Ayaka said politely, yet with a stern voice, "you are a guest after all."

"Yes, but Ayaka-san, you and Hiroshi-san haven't seen my dysfunctional fathers for quite some time. I don't find it fair that I would end up listening on matters that didn't even concern me while you weren't able to reminisce along with them!" Taisho took a breath, it was harder to say than she thought, but it did sound polite…and intelligent.

There was a bit of a silence. Eiri broke it. "You just want an excuse to move around, don't you?" Goddamn that smirk on his face.

"To be perfectly honest, yes." She said quickly and nervously. She pointed her head to the ground and the adults in the room chuckled.

Hiro laughed a bit longer and gave Taisho a very warm look. "Understandable, I wouldn't want to be in your position either." Hiro was now eight stages cooler. He stroked his chin and then snapped his fingers, making Taisho and Shuichi jump. "I've got an idea, how about you show Kazuki around and treat yourself to dinner while the old people talk?"

"Kazuki?" Taisho asked. Human-Parrot Syndrome, anyone?

"Hiro, that's a great idea!" Shuichi exclaimed. "Where is Kazuki, anyway?" Shuichi looked around the room and craned his neck into the hall.

Ayaka stood up. "I'll go get him, he's just in his room." Ayaka pushed her hair over her shoulder and left the room, entering another. Taisho stood there, looking at where Ayaka had gone and hoping that her son didn't look totally disgusting. Taisho had a reputation and couldn't be seen in public with a total loser! Shallow as that sounds, it was that truth. But of course, she had seen the parents and therefore it was impossible to have anything ugly come from this marriage, this guy was probably presentable at least. Who she saw was most definitely an understatement.

Ayaka came back with what had to be an angel behind her, though the scowl was anything but heavenly. His hair was a dark shade of brown, with dark blonde highlights all throughout it. His eyes were a shade of bright blue that could only be described as ice, making his face seem just a shade paler. He was at least three heads taller than Ayaka and stood with a loose pose and a hand in his pocket.

"Taisho," Ayaka said tenderly, pulling Taisho out of yet another daze, "this is our son, Kazuki." Kazuki looked up at her, a flicker of interest across his face. "This is the girl we've been telling you about, Shuichi and Eiri's daughter Taisho." He gave a polite bow, making Taisho remember her manners and that she had to bow as well.

"It's a pleasure to meet you, Taisho-san." Kazuki said in his knee quivering deep voice. It almost did that to Taisho, her heart skipping a beat.

"Really, the pleasure's all mine." Taisho said truthfully, politely and with a smile, yet Kazuki still frowned. Taisho was a little unnerved by that, but decided to break the silence. "Shall we go?"

"Sure, why not." he droned. It seemed like Kazuki wasn't exactly thrilled about the idea, but Taisho was never one to give up. He looked to Hiro for a few moments. "I guess we'll be back whenever, Otosan." Still the bored tone! This was getting a bit obnoxious, which made Taisho wonder how long she'd be able to put up with this.

"Alright," Hiro said with a smile, "just don't keep her out too late. You may not start school until Wednesday, but Taisho has class tomorrow."

"Actually," Shuichi piped up, "Taisho's doing home schooling again, so her tutor won't get there until maybe noon. She can stay out later, we trust her."

"Pink Otosan!" Taisho exclaimed. She was starting to regret showing Kazuki around. Taisho always hated awkward silences, and she had a feeling that there would be plenty of them on this little outing.

"It's alright Taisho," Ayaka stated, "doing home school is nothing to be ashamed of. In fact, I was home schooled my whole life and nothing bad happened." The blond girl stayed silent…this really wasn't the group of people to add something to the end of Ayaka's sentence like "Yeah, except for the fact you're alienated from all your friends" or " Sure, it's just reminiscent of home arrest". All she could do was nod.

It was almost eight o'clock by the time Kazuki and Taisho were free to go. They walked down the street for a while…in absolute and utter silence. Taisho had shoved her hands in her pockets and would have whistled but didn't want to risk agitating the stoic youth next to her. "So," said a deep voice, Taisho jumped out of her skin from the sudden sound. She looked up and saw it was Kazuki, looking right at her. "Where are you taking me first?" Our heroine was bewildered. Did Kazuki actually sound even slightly interested in something? But she needed to answer him before she could ponder this further.

"First of all, please don't treat me like a tour guide," The boy's coldness was rubbing off on her, "and second, I'm not quite sure." Taisho stopped her rant. Where _was_ she taking Kazuki?

"Well name off some places, maybe you'll find an answer."

"Let's see, I went to Shibuya earlier today," Taisho started listing off possible places, she just wanted to get this over with, "Shinjuku and Ginza are probably starting to attract mobs of horny businessmen at this hour…all the other districts are either really expensive places or really far away, and trust me you do NOT want to ride the Tokyo Subway System on a Sunday night…know that I think about it, it's never good to use the subway."

Just staring…Kazuki was letting this sink in. He rubbed his temple, he probably didn't remember most of the names. "Where was the place you already were today?"

"Shibuya, why?" Taisho answered quickly.

"You're a little…slow, aren't you?" Kazuki said with a cynical tone, not a very nice thing to do. He noticed Taisho's fuming expression. "Sorry, but it is rather obvious. I'd like to go there, of course." Taisho perked an eyebrow, he sighed and explained further. "Because you were there earlier, lots of places are still fresh in your mind. As to if we went to…Ganzu, or whatever it's called, it'd be harder to find things."

"It's Ginza and you've given this a bit of thought, haven't you?" Taisho said with a smirk. Kazuki gave a nod, going back to the not talking thing. "Well, okay, we'll go to Shibuya, then! There are lots of places to eat there and maybe some of my friends are scattered around."

"Well alright then, I just hope your friends aren't as mildly obnoxious as you are." Kazuki murmured, setting Taisho's anger ablaze once again.

"No shit! You finally made a move on Tai-kun?" Aiko said before biting into her food. She let some brown hair fall in her face and then moved it behind her ear.

"Never knew you had it in you to have her on the floor!" Akira exclaimed. He seemed completely ecstatic, ruffling his dyed green hair.

"You truly are a man amongst men, sir! Brava, brava!" Shuyu boomed, clapping his hands. Eyes of sapphire filled with stars and shaggy black hair moving with his body.

"I'm telling you for the thousandth fucking time, it wasn't like that!" Hiroki shouted at his group of friends as they sat at a table outside eating their pizza. Aki had been relaying the events of earlier that day concerning her brother and a certain blond beauty, intent on seeing how big the vein in his head before he made it burst out of his skin.

Aki took a sip of her soda and looked at her twin with an intent smile on her face. "And I'm telling you that I'm only saying what I saw, Oniichan." She said this with a smug and prideful voice, she had Hiroki wrapped around her finger.

Hiroki plopped down on his seat and stole a slice of pizza from the plate. He was completely exasperated. "Fine, but you didn't have to twist it into a scene from some sort of shitty romance novel."

Aki looked up, with a bit of confusion on her face. "But then after she left, how come you had a--"

Hiroki's face blushed brick red and shouted "Urusei! You're dead to me, twin!" before Aki could finish her sentence. Though everyone at the table knew what Aki was aiming at. Now Hiroki would have to face the firing squad.

"Dude, are you serious!" Akira said, a little too excited.

"I can't believe you're that easily excited, Hiroki! And here I thought it took something on the scale of the Apocalypse to amuse you." Shuyu hissed through a Cheshire Cat grin.

"You beast!" Aiko said mischievously, putting her hand to her mouth like those surprised bimbos in black and white movies, just to mock the poor boy.

Hiroki let his head fall onto the table with a loud THUNK. "Goddamn you all." He mumbled helplessly. All others at the table gave a thumbs up of triumph at each other. Aki went back to her pizza and spun around to the back of the seat. Aki was a little unsure of what she saw, but her curious mind was forcing her to confirm it.

"Speak of the devil," she began, "isn't that Tai-kun?" Now she had most of the group's attention. Hiroki just kept his head on the table, not bothering to look up. He couldn't look at her after the discussion his friends were forcing on him. Aki began again. "Who's the guy she's with?" Now his attention was caught, but he just couldn't find the strength to lift his head up.

"I don't know, but he sure is gorgeous." Aiko said dreamily. Hiroki's head shot up and looked around like a prairie dog when a coyote's nearby. Shuyu, seeing his friend's pitiful search, pointed to where the targets were.

Sure enough, there was Taisho with her hair down and her favorite news boy cap on. She was smiling, her amethyst eyes glistening. When Hiroki saw the boy she was with, words couldn't even describe how he felt. The guy standing so close to her was handsome, Hiroki admitted that. Not to mention he was tall, a good dresser and probably had more sex appeal than most celebrities. Now words could describe how he felt. Depressed, jealous and confused. It was official…Hiroki had to know who this guy was even if it killed him.

Taisho and Kazuki finally ended up going into a Chinese restaurant and sitting at a table near the back. After ordering, they went back to the conversation they were having on the way. "So let me get this straight," Taisho began as she made herself comfortable, "you don't like music?"

"Nope." Kazuki responded

"Or TV?"

"Never have."

"What about the mall?"

"Too crowded."

"Arcades?"

"Only first person shooters and driving games, everything else sucks."

"Then what do you like!" Taisho half screamed exasperatedly. "You don't find interest in anything normal teens do, then what do you do in your spare time?" Kazuki looked a little confused on how to answer, and the look on Taisho's face was filled with determination to know what he liked.

They stared each other down for a little while, but Kazuki finally cracked. "I like," he started slowly, making Taisho lean forward in anticipation. He could see it in her eyes, as if Taisho was going to open up some sort of ancient Atlantean treasure.

"You like?" Taisho said eagerly, her elbow almost landing in the wonton soup that was laid out as an appetizer while they were chatting.

"I like," Kazuki gave her a look. A dead serious look, like he was going to say he liked mass murder, or S&M, or something creepy like that. He opened his mouth again, and things were in slow motion for a fraction of a second. "Girls."

At that moment, Taisho felt her heart sink, no not sink, PLUMMET into an ocean of crappy build up. She sighed and fell back into her chair, her hand on the right side of her face. "Well, at least there's something you share with all guys." Taisho regained her composure and thought about having a bit of soup. She decided to interrogate him a bit more instead. "Are you sure there's nothing else you like?" Kazuki looked up from the soup he himself was going to eat. "Poetry, sports?"

"Film, I like to make mini movies and such." He answered with a stone face. He had some of the wonton concoction with a satisfied look. Taisho was blown away, it took less than she anticipated. Kazuki saw this, brushed some hair out of his face and decided to continue. "And cooking." He went back to his soup and then looked up at Taisho. "Have you tried any of this? It's pretty good."

Taisho snapped out of her haze for a second and noticed that he had asked a question. "Huh?" she said, a little stupidly.

"The soup," Kazuki said while pointing at his soup bowl, "you should try some if you haven't."

"Oh, okay. Sorry, I kinda zoned there." Taisho said, a little apologetically. As advised, she had some of the soup. A sensation came over her in her mouth. "You're right, this is delicious!"

After the gigantic Chinese meal, the two had definitely warmed up to each other. On the walk back to the hotel room, they were even laughing and practically dancing in the streets. It was nearly midnight as they neared the door and Taisho was still giggling. But it was alright, because they could hear Shuichi, Hiro and Ayaka laughing from where they were. "I haven't had this much fun in a while," she said between breaths.

"You know," Kazuki said with a smile. Taisho thought that this was how he should look all the time. He was definitely more charming when his face wasn't stuck in a scowl. "At first, I thought you were just going to be another bimbo with dyed hair,"

"My hair isn't dyed!" Taisho playfully protested as she gave him a friendly punch in the arm.

"Right, sorry," Kazuki said apologetically and patted Taisho on the head. "Anyway, I realized that you aren't very annoying." The two reached the door but didn't open it quite yet. "You can hold a conversation, you know?"

Taisho gave him a smile. "The same goes for you. I saw you and thought, 'my god, he looks really photogenic' and when you replied to your parents with such boredom it was more like 'this is going to be awkward', but when you actually open up you're a really sweet person." Taisho put her hand on his shoulder.

"Y'know what else is sweet?" Kazuki said with a smirk. Taisho's brain automatically thought he was going to say something perverted but decided to answer.

"Uhm…chocolate-banana flavored Pocky?" Taisho answered a little bit stupidly. Perfectly vulnerable to Kazuki's plan.

"No."

She didn't know what was happening, or what had driven the boy next to her to do such a thing. But Taisho found her self in a tight embrace and a gentle, almost chaste kiss upon her lips. And still like that when Kazuki had opened the door and into the eyesight of their parents. Kazuki pulled away and looked her dead in the eyes…her wide open eyes. He pleadingly whispered, "It's you...stupid."


	4. Chapter 4: Confrontation Day

Chapter 4: Confrontation Day 

Translation-thing: Yatta: Sort of the Japanese equivalent of "boo-ya!" or "awesome!"/ Mikado: Japanese for "emperor" or "king"/

The next few days after that, word spread like wildfire through Taisho's ring of friends and acquaintances about the incident between she and Kazuki. Even Taisho's tutor asked a couple of questions. And the second that Aki got a hold of the information, Taisho was getting text messages almost every six minutes.

To make things worse, it would appear that Kazuki was attending Taisho's old school, and he had spread it around school that he had kissed Taisho Shindo-Yuki, making students stretch it so far that instead of a kiss, they were practically screwing in the hall. It was Friday when she had decided to confront Kazuki. Possibly find out what went on in that boy's head.

She was practically stomping the entire way to Touhoku High School. This was for two reasons. The first was she didn't want to look weak coming in the gate and she was furious as it was. It had finally dawned on her the embarrassment of having two sets of parents seeing you kissing. The second was she was trying to stomp away the horrible memories of this place.

"_You fag loving whore!"_

Urusei.

"_I don't see how she can live with people like that!"_

Urusei!

"_Do you ever hear them at night? Hahaha!"_

Urusei!

Taisho quickened her pace as she got to the school's gate. The students had just started their lunch break and she kept looking straight ahead as she walked through the crowds. More accurately, by just getting a glance of Taisho's face, they all parted like the Red Sea as she trekked to the doors of the school.

"Isn't that Shindo-Yuki?" whispered a ganguro fashion gal to her other gal friends. She avoided the girl with poor taste but still heard them.

"I thought she left!" her friend replied. "I hope Mochida didn't say something…if she heard about it…" Taisho gave that girl a glare and the two said nothing more.

The doors flew open as she walked even faster, realizing that now she was nearly sprinting up the stairs and to the one place she knew Kazuki would be. All delinquents in the school went up to the roof at lunch and, according to Aki's info, Kazuki had already made a tiny list of notorious deeds.

She literally kicked open the door to the roof with a loud BANG and let it close the same way. Taisho looked around the roof and her eyes were stuck to one source for half a second. A big, semi-muscular boy that was leaning against the fence saw Taisho, and his eyes widened in horror. Taisho put a painful smile on her face. "Don't worry, I'm not here for you." She moved her head towards the door. "I want everyone here to clear out, okay?" Everyone did so…hastily.

She turned around and looked up to the little building that sheltered the stairs. "Get down here, Kazuki."

"What are you doing here? I thought you did home schooling?" Came a deep voice form the roof. Sure enough, a head with light brown hair, ice blue eyes and a sleepy frown on his face peeked out from over the little building's roof.

"My tutor's on maternity leave for the next year or so, the new one's not showing up for a month." Taisho said monotonously. Kazuki scoffed and jumped down quickly, landing uncomfortably close to her. He leaned in to kiss her, as if it was acting as a reminder of his triumph, but Taisho moved her head to the left and gave him a good slap in the face, both took a few steps back. Taisho from disgust and Kazuki from disbelief.

"Stop thinking with your dick, you psycho!" She exclaimed, in near tears. Kazuki looked up at her, agitation on his face.

"I'm not!" He shouted back, running a finger across his bottom lip. There was a bit of red on it. "You made me bite my tongue."

"I don't care!" Taisho screamed at him. She grabbed him by the collar and held him up off the ground a bit. "What have you been telling people?"

"Only the truth," he said nonchalantly. "I kissed you in front of our folks and you didn't pull away." He was just so undeniably snide about it, it would make even the biggest critics want to vomit. "That's all."

"And because of that, I've been painted as a whore!" Taisho continued to scream. She threw Kazuki to the ground and took another step back. "And don't try to bullshit you way out of this. My friend Aki may be a gossip leech, but she's no liar." Kazuki just scoffed and turned his head. "Now," Taisho said ominously, "I think I deserve an apology for all the damage."

"That's what this is about?" Kazuki said disappointedly. "You expect me to apologize after slapping me in the face and nearly strangling me? You want me to apologize for kissing you in front of our parents?" Now he sounded a bit angry.

"Yes!" Taisho replied angrily. "Do you know how mortifying that is? I still haven't heard the end of this, you--"

"Why are they afraid of you?" Kazuki said bluntly.

There was a stubborn silence "Quit changing the subject." She said quietly.

"I'm not going to apologize until I get some explanations." Kazuki held true to this specific subject. "Why were they scared?" Taisho looked at the ground, Kazuki got up and situated against the stairwell building "Mochida is a pretty big guy, but when he saw you he nearly wet himself." She still didn't respond. Kazuki pulled out a small pack of cigarettes and a lighter out of his pocket. "Otosan said that you left public school because people made fun of Yuki-san and Shuichi-san…that school wouldn't happen to be this one, would it?" No answer. "That's what I thought." Kazuki brought the cigarette to his lips and lit it. He blew out and made a little smoke blob in the air. "Anyway, you seem like a pretty overconfident individual, and since you're not getting your apology without an explanation. Take your time, I'm going to be ditching the rest of the day anyway, so I have all the time in the world."

It was silent for so many seconds, it felt like hours. Taisho looked at the death instrument in Kazuki's mouth and finally found it easy to explain. "I burned an insignia into someone's back in a gang fight." She said monotonously.

The brown haired boy looked down at his lighter, and then back at her. "Bullshit." He muttered. But that was when Taisho gave him a glare that would make Satan's blood run cold.

"Just ask Mochida."

Two months ago… 

"Hey, Tai-kun!" said a girl's voice. Taisho's head turned behind her, and her loose braid did a flip from one shoulder to the other. It was Aki and her hair was purple with neon green streaks in it this month, Hiroki was at his sister's side. A smile grew on Taisho's face as the two ran towards her. "So how goes the third month at normal school?"

"Hell in a box." She said tiredly, The last period of Taisho's day was PE, and since it was the lacrosse unit, she would be this exhausted for the next month or so.

You see, though she had many friends, Taisho had only started public school shortly before. Because Taisho couldn't stand to sit in one place for more than an hour at most, she would wander around Tokyo and end up with another friend or two. She had done this with Hiroki and Aki when she was seven. "What are you guys doing out here, anyway?" Taisho inquired as the twins stopped. "Your house is the other way."

"It is, but we were going to grab a bite to eat," Hiroki explained. He was always especially nice to Taisho when he spoke. "And we, um, wanted to now if you'd…like to come with us." Hiroki was also known to start blushing when talking to girls he didn't live with, meaning every girl in existence aside from his twin, his college-bound older sister, and his mother, and this was one of those moments.

Taisho's face lit up and flashed the both of them a big smile. "Of course! You know I can't resist food!"

The twins gave each other Cheshire Cat grins as they received high fives. "Yatta!" Aki exclaimed as Taisho took her place between the two, all three hooking their arms on each other's shoulders and singing random songs by the little-band-that-thought-they-could-yet-were-seriously-mistaken, ASK. As they walked on, our trio came upon a bridge, and under the pass way, stood someone Taisho really didn't want to see.

It was a group of people who loved to give her a bad time. But most of them were people she wasn't particularly worried about, except for one. He was in the center, with curly hair and a disgusting sneer on his face. Yasuhiko Mochida, a junior at Touhoku Academy, already titled Mikado of the Campus because he ruled with an iron fist. Rumor was that he beat the previous king to near death so he could take the poor guy's place. "Well look who we have here, fellas." He said with a jeering point. "If it ain't Fag Hugger and her sidekicks, the Spaz Squad." The gang around him chuckled stupidly.

Hiroki and Aki had looks of fear in their eyes, but Taisho only sighed. "That is so pathetic." She said without amusement. Aki looked up at the bravery-coated girl.

"Taisho, are you insane!" She said in a hushed voice. "This guy could rip your face off!" Taisho did not heed Aki's warnings. Not very intelligent.

"People call you a king and _that's_ what you come up with?" Taisho's objective was to chip away and then have she and her friends run for it when he got so angry he couldn't move right. "Oh, I get it. You go by "King" but the truth is, you're just the court fool."

Her plan worked quicker than anticipated. Not good. In what seemed like half a second, Mochida and all of his goons had bum rushed them. Two grabbed Aki from behind and covered her mouth so her screams were muffled, three kneed Hiroki in the stomach and got him to the ground and Taisho was pinned down to the concrete with her arms twisted behind her back. It was then that Mochida stepped in front of Taisho and kneeled down close to her eye level, tilting her head up with his index finger. "Short fuse too, I see." Taisho hissed through tightly gritted teeth, giving a cynical smile.

"Y'know, I hadn't noticed before, but you're really hot." Mochida said in an evil smirk. Taisho turned her eyes away and started to wish she didn't. Two of the boys where feeling around under Aki's shirt as she generated muffled screams of fear. Hiroki was forced to watch this traumatizing display and whenever he would try to look away, they would kick him. At that moment, something inside her completely snapped. She jerked her head back and forth, and when Mochida went to slap her she bit down on his hand. "You crazy skank! Get your fuckin' teeth off me!"

Despite the command, Taisho didn't let go. Not until something would come of it. And something did. After a few seconds, the boys behind her loosened their grip, fearing the act of insanity that was appearing. Even Aki and Hiroki's attackers let go to watch. Blood started to get in Taisho's mouth, Mochida screamed, yet she still did not let go and continued to bite down harder. And that was when they all heard it, the deafening snapping noise of Yasuhiko Mochida's hand being broken.

Taisho released her jaws and stood up quickly as Mochida stepped back as he held onto his hand and screamed in pain. Taisho saw her window of opportunity and ran straight at Mochida, shoving her knee into his stomach…over, and over, and over again. She kicked him right in the throat and then used the heel of her palm to break his nose. When he finally hit the ground, Mochida's breathing was so slow that it looked like he was dead. He sure was bloody enough to be.

His so-called friends had run long ago.

Aki and Hiroki stood in horror and amazement. Hiroki took a step forward. "Come on, Taisho," Hiroki said, his voice showing only the slightest quiver. "Let's just go, he's learned his lesson." She didn't listen. Taisho didn't even turn her head.

For once, she was in control. Taisho didn't know why she was doing these horrible things, considering she didn't know she even had the ability to do so. But it felt good. Oh so _perfect._ No wonder the boy in a heap on the ground liked to hurt others if he felt like this all the time. Everything down to the blood in her mouth gave her this empowering feeling. But all of a sudden, there was this horrible feeling in her gut.

Taisho stood over Mochida and made sure that he saw her statuesque expression. "That's what you get for going after my friends." She kneeled down to Mochida now. If he was even expecting a bit of mercy, even after all this, Mochida got a big reality slap as Taisho grabbed a handful of hair and yanked his head up. "You can hit me, cuss at me, or do anything that could pop into that twisted mind of yours, but don't you dare go after those that I care for." Then she let his head drop to the ground and stuck her hand in his pocket. Taisho ended up pulling out a lighter and a pack of cigarettes.

Now it was Aki's turn to speak up. "Taisho, no." She said, trying to be strong amidst the chaos. "You got what you wanted, let's just go get some food and forget all this happened! I'm serious."

"So am I!" Taisho half shouted. She turned to Aki and it would appear that something extremely strange had happened. Taisho had tears streaming down her face, mixing with some of the blood coming out of her mouth. There were no sounds of sobbing or whimpering, just unstoppable tears. Taisho tried to put on a smile, but Hiroki and Aki could see the misery. "I'm sorry, Aki-chan, but there's one thing I have to do, to make sure he never does this to you again." With that, Taisho made the flints on the lighter ignite, and stuck the flame over to the cigarette.

She wiped her tears away quickly and went back to the expression that made demons cry for forgiveness. She lifted up the back of Mochida's shirt and muttered, "…yeah, I think a TSY on the spine is the best." If he had the strength, the attacker turned victim would have yelled. But there was no need. In half a second, he felt a searing hot pain in his back, forcing him to scream anyway, louder than any person should. When he quieted down a bit, she was able to say something. "Just use this as a reminder that if you ever come after me, my friends, or my family again, I'll reopen the son of a bitch and do it again, maybe even use battery acid." Aki buried her face in her brother's chest; Hiroki clamped his eyes shut. "A reminder that Taisho--Shindo--Yuki isn't afraid of the consequences." Taisho went back about her work, her tears kept putting out the cigarette, so she had to keep relighting…this went on for twenty minutes.

Kazuki looked as shocked as a soldier that is shot. It was nearly unbelievable. The girl in front of him, whom earlier that week was so friendly and nearly flawless in her ways, was part of the vicious cycle of abuse.

Taisho gave him a plain and exhausted look. "My parents, Aunt Mika, Uncle Tohma and Tatsuha, Noriko and Ryuichi had a debate on what to do. Novelist Otosan kept saying something about it being his fault, his past affecting his child, and that I'd be just as bitter as him when I get older. They and Uncle Tohma decided to cover it all up, so it never went to court." Taisho smirked. "When I heard that they bribed Mochida's lawyer, I refused to talk to them for almost a month."

There was a silence between the two teens. The bell signaling the end of lunch had rung long ago, Kazuki stayed true to his word that he was ditching class. Taisho stood up straight and began her walk towards the door. She got to the stairwell and realized suddenly that she had just explained that story, without getting so much as an…

"I'm sorry." Kazuki said quietly from the ground. Taisho stopped dead in her tracks, thinking that she had just heard things. She looked directly at Kazuki, who was using the building to put his cigarette out. He stood up and chucked the pack of Marlboros off the roof, then looked right into Taisho's eyes. She saw something that she hadn't seen even when she got Kazuki to lighten up that night. Sincerity, begging, an almost pleading look. "I really mean it, Taisho. It was more than I had really wanted to hear, and it couldn't have been easy for you to tell."

A wave of something had swept over her body. A force so great she was practically trembling. Taisho didn't know what motivated her to do what was in store next, but all of a sudden, she ran into Kazuki's arms and began to sob. It was whimpers, then full blown crying. She was only slightly surprised when Kazuki put his arms around her and pet Taisho on the top of her head. "Thanks for listening, Kazuki." She said in between breaths, her face still buried in Kazuki's strong arms.

"No problem." He said in a whisper. Kazuki continued to hold Taisho for what seemed like an hour, but for good reason. The former tin man didn't want this already emotionally frail girl to see that he also had a tear or two running down his face. They disappeared quickly and that was when Kazuki held Taisho a little farther from him and wiped away the tears on the blond angel's face. "Hey," he said gently, "let's go get some food or something, alright?" The girl looked up and nodded, with a bitter laugh. "And by the way, I'm still not apologizing for kissing you."

Taisho gave a loud giggle and Kazuki a playful punch on the shoulder, which wasn't all that playful feeling for Kazuki. It kind of hurt. "Not cool!"

"Come on, you know you liked it and everyone feels hungry after a good cry." Kazuki said in a bland voice.

"…Fine, but this time we're getting Italian!" Taisho surrendered.

And so the two walked out the school doors, flipping off the truant officer on the way out the schoolyard gates. The truant officers here were pansies anyway. The school was full of delinquents, they'd get over it.

But as the two walked hand in hand, Hiroki was watching out the window of his classroom. Since the seating arrangements were organized by last name and it was study period, he turned around in his seat and looked at his sister. "I thought Taisho was going to give Nakano-senpai a piece of her mind." Aki, sitting with rest of their friends looked up at her brother and let that sink in.

Aki wore a look of confusion on her face. "What do you mean? There's no way Taisho'd miss a chance to chew out a jerk."

"Then explain this to me," Hiroki said with agitation as he pointed out window, "why would the two be walking out the school gates withy smiles on their faces if she chewed him out?"

Aki, Aiko, Akira and Shuyu rushed to the window. Sure enough, Taisho and Kazuki were down the street, smiling and holding hands. Jaws dropped and eyes popped…it was strange enough seeing Taisho make up with a target…but Taisho with a boyfriend! That was too much. Shuyu recovered quickly and looked quite amused. "It would appear she's grown up a bit away from us," he glanced over at Hiroki, "it would also be apparent that you're out of the game."

Hiroki blushed violently. "Urusei! Don't tell me that you actually believe Aki!" He took a breath and his face went from a deep red to a light pink, still embarrassed. "I just don't think that Kazuki's good for her. He's an asshole with questionable nature."

"Yeah, and none of the guys here are?" Aiko said sarcastically. "You've had your fair share of run-ins with cops as well, Hiro-kun. Every kid in this school is a dumbass, just on a different level."

Akira raised her hand. "She does have a point. Even Shuyu here gets a C+ average, totally smashed every weekend and he's the smartest kid in school."

"How kind of you sweet heart." Shuyu said sadly. "I'm glad my girlfriend's opinion of me is so high."

"Well you know--" Akira stopped mid-sentence. "Hey, I'm not your girlfriend!"

"I was hoping you would catch that one." Shuyu brushed some strands of black hair out of his face and shoved his hands in his pockets. "Shit."

Aki went back to her brother. "Back on the subject of Tai-kun, let's say you didn't like her--"

"Which I don't." Hiroki added firmly.

"Right, that," Aki said before continuing, "You don't like her, so what are you going to do about this? It looks like she really likes Kazuki."

Hiroki looked down at his desk. What would he do about those two? It was a hard situation…"I'd split them up." He said plainly. BONK! Aki's elbow drilled into his skull and smashed his chin against the desk. "What'd you do that for?" He rubbed his head, looking like a sad puppy.

"You moron! You don't split them up!" Aki exclaimed. "You're supposed to be supporting Tai-kun in all her endeavors! Be them academically, athletically or romantically, one friend follows the other no matter what."

"Yeah." Aiko said strongly. "Nothing bad has happened yet, so at least give him a chance."

Shuyu put his hand on Hiroki's shoulder. "Besides, once something bad happens, then you can break them apart."

"Really?" Hiroki said curiously.

Akira stood next to him with her hand on his. "Don't worry, if he hurts Tai-kun in any way, we'll have your back. No one hurts Tai-kun without getting a visit from the Shindo-Yuki Mafia shortly after!"

Hiroki smiled at them. "I think her family would be all over it before we were. But you're right," he said with a happy twinkle in his eyes. "I should be content with the fact she's happy with Kazuki, right?"

"Atta' boy, Oniichan!" Aki said while grabbing her brother into a hug. She let him go shortly after so he could breathe. "An achievement for both you and Tai-kun in the same day is deserving of only one thing."

"Um…a car transmission?" Hiroki said suspiciously. Aki scoffed and stood on a desk in a hero-reminiscent pose. The friends on the floor followed suit pose-wise.

"No stupid!" Aki yelled, pointing a finger at Hiroki. "Tonight, we feast! Isn't that right men?"

"Yatta! Feast!" Came the roaring response of Aki's mini-cult.

Hiroki rested his chin in his hand and sighed, wondering why he was stuck with idiots like these. But at least they were fun idiots. He looked out the window again and Taisho was now out of sight. Sure, he would try to get along with Nakano to the best of his ability…but if things went bad then there'd be no stopping him. He'd comfort Taisho, beat up the Nakano Monster and keep protecting lady fair.


End file.
